


Happy Birthday, Derek

by DamianRuff



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fireworks, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Party, Some Derek feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 22:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/603014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DamianRuff/pseuds/DamianRuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a long time since Derek last celebrated his birthday, so Stiles and the gang decide to throw him a party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday, Derek

There were birds chirping, birds never chirped...well not here anyway. He cracked a tired eye open and looked at the brightening sky from where his mattress was on the floor. Suddenly he was aware of the feeling of being watched and looked over just in time to see Stiles and Scott smiling at him.

"Told you we could sneak up on him," Stiles nudged Scott with his elbow.

"Yeah, whatever." Scott rolled his eyes and went back to texting Allison.

"What are you doing here?" Derek sat up on his mattress glaring at both of them.

"Aww, someone's a little grumpy," Stiles said in mock baby talk. "We've got a surprise for you, get up and get dressed. Do whatever it is Derek's do in the morning and meet us downstairs. Come on, Scott." Stiles stood and walked out of the room with Scott in tow who was still texting Allison.

Derek blinked in annoyed confusion before getting off of the mattress to dig through his bag of clothes to find something to wear, or he would have if it was there, but he looked over and saw an outfit picked out for him with a sticky note that said, "Wear this..." It was a powder pink button up shirt laying on top of khakis, that already had a leather belt sewn through the belt loops, and a cream blazer.

He sighed heavily and gave a deadpan look at where Stiles and Scott had just left. He went to the bathroom to wash up and stood, looking at the outfit in front of him but there was something different now, it was a pair of leopard print underwear with a small sticky note stuck to them that said, "from Stiles." He got dressed making sure to avoid the underwear and looked around for the boots he normally wore but his eyes landed on a pair of Italian leather loafers that had another sticky note on them that said "...with these." He picked them up and looked back at the note that had been on the blazer and sighed while making a mental note to disembowel Stiles.

He slipped the shoes on, ignoring how good they felt because he still wanted his old boots. There was a tie on the door but he ignored it and made his way down the stairs fixing the cuffs of his shirt before adjusting his blazer, he was greeted by a smug Stiles and a somewhat impressed Scott.

"Wow, Derek, you clean up good." Scott said visibly impressed when he looked down and saw the shoes. "And who knew you'd look good in pink."

"Powder pink. And I did." Stiles looked up from where he had been admiring his work to look Derek in the eye, "you're welcome." Derek threw the leopard print underwear at Stiles. "Well, lack of gratitude aside, we've got something planned for you today and you needed to look your best."

That unnerved Derek more than it should have and he looked from the sly grin on Scott's over to the even more conniving grin on Stiles' face. "What's going on?"

"Well, Derek..." Peter stepped out from behind the wall with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. "The boys were telling me about how broody and pensive you've been lately, as if I don't have to live with you everyday, and they wanted to cheer you up a bit. So, we got to talking, which by the way, for this one over here..." he gestured loosely to Scott, "is really a drag, and we tried to think of what could possibly cheer you up. Stiles suggested a prostitute but I told him you're far too uptight for something like that, and then Scott suggested that maybe you just needed some cake and ice cream. But it wasn't until Stiles mentioned something about a party Lydia was having in a few weeks that I put it together, you haven't celebrated your birthday in a while...so here." Peter brought his hands from behind his back to reveal that he was holding a party hat that said 'Birthday Boy' in blue bubble letters with balloons and ribbon around the words and tossed it to Derek. "Happy six birthdays you missed because your family was killed by your psycho ex-girlfriend who was then killed by your presumably invalid uncle!"

The look that Derek gave Peter could kill a bird, and Stiles wasn't sure but he think he heard one fall out of a tree outside. "Are you kidding me with this?" Derek crushed the hat in his hand and stormed out of the house, visibly upset. Peter gave a Stiles a look that asked if it was something he said and Stiles huffed before following Derek out the door.

He stepped into the bright sunlight and looked at the decorations he, Scott, and Allison had put up all night while Derek slept, and looked over just in time to see him walk over to his car. Stiles ran as fast as he could and slid in front of Derek before he could open the driver side door. "Move Stiles." He could see the hurt in Derek's eyes.

"No, I'm not going anywhere." He splayed his arms out over the car to make sure that Derek couldn't get passed him...at least not on this side of the car.

"Stiles, move or I will move you." Derek's voice was intense but it wavered slightly.

"I don't think you will. I don't think you'd move me because you don't want to." Stiles was proven wrong when Derek pushed him to the side and got in the car, but Stiles was fast and in the backseat before Derek could protest. "Okay, listen to me..."

"Really? Really Stiles?" Derek leaned his head back on the headrest and glared at Stiles through the rear-view mirror.

"I'm sorry about the way Peter told you about it, okay. But we really did want to do this for you, we stayed up all night to decorate your...backyard? We just wanted to do something to make you happy after everything that's been going on with Gerard and the Kanima and everything. And we've got a cake and everything and please just stay and pretend to have a good time." Stiles never looked away from Derek where he was glaring at him through the mirror. "It won't even be a lot of people, just Scott and Allison, Jackson and Lydia, and you know, Erica, Boyd and Isaac...and Peter said he was going to stay but if you don't want him here we can ask him to leave." He kept looking at Derek through the mirror even though Derek was looking down and wasn't saying anything. "Derek?"

After a little while Derek sighed heavily and looked back at Stiles through the mirror, "Whatever, I'll stay." The car shook as Stiles flailed happily in the backseat.

"Awesome!" He leaned up to pat Derek on the shoulder, "The cake, is shaped like a wolf." He gave a wide smile and got out of the car while Derek sighed again before getting out.

Derek walked around back and nearly flipped when he saw exactly what Stiles meant by "decorating." There was pink streamers everywhere and blue balloons that said "It's A Boy" on the park tables they had stolen from somewhere, and Peter was cleaning a grill that he was pretty sure belonged to Mr. Stilinski, and there was a pile of games on the ground next to a Twister mat, and there were coolers that Derek hoped were full of juices and sodas.

"Nope, it's alcohol." Stiles was by his side with a grin and a box of fireworks on his hip that really made Derek nervous. "I saw you looking at the coolers, Peter's a big help when you offer not to talk to him for a week." Over by the grill Peter waves a branch that he was poking the coals with to get the fire started. "And later, there's going to be fireworks." Stiles dipped a little to catch the box before giving Derek a nervous smile walking over to where Scott was carrying what looked like a whole cow and some hamburger buns. "We've got steak!" Stiles turned back to yell at Derek only to trip over a poorly placed rock, spilling the thankfully unlit fireworks over the ground, before popping back up with a nervous laugh.

"Here," Peter walked over and handed his nephew a beer that he had taken from one of the coolers. "Last I remember you're a lightweight, so I want to get you nice and loose before the others show up." Derek took the beer but did not hesitate to shoot a little glare at his uncle who relented. "Okay, I'm sorry about earlier, sorry for being...uncool? I'm still trying to get the hang of this slang they use."

Derek sat down in the shade while Peter, Scott and Stiles finished setting up just in time for Allison to show up who was then followed by Isaac and Erica. The looks on his betas' faces didn't go unnoticed when they saw the pink streamers and baby shower balloons.

"It's a boy?" Erica said reading the balloons.

"Apparently..." Isaac laughed to himself when he heard Derek huff from somewhere behind him. Stiles ran up when he saw them and handed them a drink, taking them to the side as he did so.

"Guys," he whispered, "be easy on Derek today, okay? But not like creepy easy, just be easy enough that he doesn't notice it and won't think I told you to be easy. Just be like, easy enough that he'll think you're joking but not so easy that he'll get suspicious and not have a good time because he's wondering what's wrong with you two. Like..." He looked at both of them who both looked at him like he was speaking a different language. "You know what, just treat him like normal. Forget I said anything at all, cheers." He tapped his bottle on theirs and went off to ask Allison about the cake.

"So, am I the only one who thinks this is really weird?" They turned to see Boyd standing behind them looking really confused.

"Nope."

"Not at all."

The smell of grilling food wafted through the air and Stiles didn't need to have super werewolf hearing to hear all the growling stomachs. He went into detain-the-hunger mode and made rounds asking who wanted what giving the orders to Scott and a pretty peeved looking Peter. Finally he made his way to Derek, who was now nursing an empty beer bottle, and handed him a plate stacked with food taking the seat across from him. "Peter told me you're a lightweight when it comes to beer and liquor, so eat."

Derek gave Stiles a less than convincing glare and picked up the fork bringing some rice to his lips. "I made the rice." Derek put the fork down dumping the rice and put some macaroni on it instead, he looked at Stiles waiting for him to say something but he didn't. He brought the fork to his mouth and and chewed slowly looking at Stiles like he was the most annoying thing on earth. Stiles just smiled at him while he ate, stepping away occasionally to check on everyone else and to greet Lydia and Jackson when they showed up. When he came back the last time he saw that the plate was empty save for the rice, and Derek looked up at him wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Was it good?" Stiles leaned back where he sat on the bench, his fingers the only thing keeping him from falling back. Derek nodded slightly but he made it a point to push the rice away and Stiles got up just as Scott ran up with a plate of food. "Good."

"Man, Stiles, I forgot how good a cook you were!" Scott looked down at Derek's plate a little confused, "Hey, why didn't you eat my mom's rice?" Derek's nostrils flared and Stiles ran away laughing before Derek could get up.

"Did everyone eat..?" Peter yelled over the music that was playing on the speaker Stiles practically sold his soul to Jackson to borrow. No one said anything so he yelled good and closed the grill, "...because I am done." He took a bottle of vodka from the cooler and popped it open drinking heavily. He sauntered over to where Derek was still in the same spot he had been in for most of the party and handed the bottle over to Derek, "Ancient Chinese secret, drink a lot now forget what happens later." He waved the bottle in front of Derek who took it and put the bottle to his lips topping it off.

As soon as the sun went down the bottles opened and, because they were in the middle of nowhere, the music blasted and everyone was giggly. Peter had bought enough alcohol to cause anyone who looked at it to need to go to Alcoholic's Anonymous, and it seemed like whenever they thought they were out he would come sauntering through the back door with a few more bottles and catcalling could be heard from everyone even from Derek.

"Twister!" Erica shouted dragging Isaac and Lydia over to the Twister mat that she dragged into the middle of the yard. Allison got up from where Scott had been cuddling with her and pulled him over to play too. Peter picked up the spin board and counted off heads.

"Hey Derek, we've got five you want to make it an even six?" Peter laughed when Derek just glared at him but Boyd was the one who got up and hefted Derek over to where everyone else was taking off their shoes.

"You know, Derek, you could at least pretend to be happy...for Stiles. He put together this whole thing for you and all I've seen you do is sit around and mope." Derek struggled in Boyd's arms but relented.

"Fine, if you put me down I'll...I'll be...I'll pretend to enjoy myself."

"Good." Boyd put Derek down and leaned back with his hands up when Derek glared at him. "See? No harm, no foul."

"Fine," Derek couldn't remember when he started slurring but he had. "We can play Twister but, I play winner because it's my birthday."

"Now that just sounds lazy, Derek." Stiles looked up from where he had been picking up some napkins that had fell on the floor. "How about you play everyone here, at the same time, like everyone else?" Stiles pretended to sound excited by the idea the way a parent is to their child when it's bath time. Derek glared at Stiles and picked up the spinner flicking it.

"I don't like you." It was right hand red.

"That's okay." Stiles smiled at him and moved away just in time to avoid Derek's rather wide swing for a red spot on the mat. "As long as you're having fun." It didn't take long for Derek to get into the game, he was bent up with the rest of them; he was sharing a yellow spot on the mat with Allison and Jackson and his face was uncomfortably close to Scott's butt. Erica's hair was tickling him where his shirt had ridden up and Isaac's shoulder was under his knee. When Scott fell, causing them all to fall, they all landed in a heap on the mat laughing and smiling. Stiles couldn't help but enjoy that Derek was actually having a good time, and thought that maybe his idea for a surprise birthday party for Derek wasn't as bad an idea as he had thought.

"Stiles, you're next!" He looked up when Scott yelled over to him laughing. Peter didn't hide his delight at the notion.

"Yeah, Stiles how about you and the birthday boy have at it. I mean, it's only fair, you got him to play and you've just been sitting there laughing at him." Peter crossed his arms over his chest and wore a smile that was greased with how much he enjoyed Stiles' flailing.

"Fine, whatever." Stiles put down the bottle he had been sipping from and stood up to walk over to the mat. "Guess I'll have to show you guys how to play properly. Erica, Isaac, and..." He looked around for someone else to play with them, if he had to play then so did..."Boyd. Come on, we're going to teach your alpha a thing or two about Twister." The smile wiped clean off Boyd's face, and Peter laughed at how uncomfortable he looked, but he got up and walked over to the mat and handed the spinner to Stiles.

"You first." Stiles took the spinner from Boyd and frowned at it before handing it over to Derek.

"And go before the birthday boy, I couldn't." A slick smile was on Stiles' face as Derek tried to hand it to Isaac or Erica but to no avail. Derek sighed and flicked the spinner. Left foot green. By the time the game had got going it was all laughter and sly remarks as spin after spin Peter called a color that ended up with someone in a slightly provocative position.

"Peter, hand the spinner to someone else." Derek craned his neck over Erica's leg to look at his uncle who was having too good of a time with the spinner.

"What?" Peter laughed as he called left leg blue and Stiles had to stretch over Boyd in order to reach the spot. "I think I'm doing a good job of flicking this thing."

"Scott, can you take it from him?" Stiles called from where he was trying to avoid Boyd's glare. He couldn't see Scott from this position but he heard him laughing.

"Nah, I think Peter's doing okay." Stiles made a mental note to kill his best friend if Boyd didn't kill him first for how he was pressed against him.

"Allison!" Stiles called but all he heard was her snickering along with Scott.

"Lydia, take the spinner from Peter." Derek tried to sound authoritative but his slurring wasn't helping him at all. Lydia smiled and took a sip of the vodka cranberry she had made herself while Jackson took sips straight from a bottle of Jack Daniels, both wearing grins that said they had no plans on stopping this.

"Welp! I guess you'll just have to keep playing until someone falls." Peter chuckled and flicked the spinner one more time. Right had red. Erica pulled her arm from between Isaac's legs and made an attempt to move to red but slipped when her leg gave way between Derek's arm and armpit. They fell and Peter called foul play with Lydia, Jackson, Scott and Allison agreeing with him.

"Too bad, so sad," Stiles said picking himself up off of an angry Boyd. "It's time for fireworks anyway...Scott, go get the sparklers, I think it's time we took some pictures." Scott ran over to where the box of fireworks sat by the backdoor of the Hale house and took his lighter from his pocket, sparking one oh his way back.

"Katy Perry is going to be so jealous of us," was the last thing Scott said before they were all running around the backyard waving their sparklers like magic wands. 

Jackson chased after Lydia, who was red in the face from giggling so much. Allison was on Scott's back with her sparkler out in front of them, it looked like she was riding a horse into battle. Erica spun in a circle, her hair whipping around her face as Isaac and Boyd tried to write their names with light. Derek lay on one of the tables looking up at the night sky. Peter and Stiles were busying themselves with setting up some of the bigger fireworks, Stiles made sure that none of them were too big because nothing ruins a party like a forest fire.

"Hey," Peter said once they had set up a few bottle rockets and noise makers, "I've got it from here, go make sure that nephew of mine hasn't passed out yet." Stiles looked over to where Derek still lay on the table, his sparkler starting to go out, and lit another one before walking over to Derek.

"Derek! I am you fairy god-father," Stiles said in his best Marlon Brando impersonation, which wasn't that good. "And I come to you, on this, the day of the sour wolf's birthday, and I ask you, are you having a good time?" He sat on the bench so that he could look down at Derek, who looked to be going in and out of consciousness, and took the now burnt out sparkler and replaced it with the new one after wiping the ashes from Derek's shirt. "You know, when I bought you this shirt, I didn't intend it as an ashtray."

Derek looked over at Stiles and for one quick moment Stiles was sure he could actually see happiness in Derek's eyes, before he turned back to look at the sky again. 

"Thank you, Stiles," he said after a moment. "I haven't had this much fun on my birthday in a long time."

"So you admit it, you are enjoying yourself." Stiles was tickled pink at having been able to make Derek at least admit to having fun.

"Yeah, I am," Derek said, not looking away from the stars. "Since...everything happened...I haven't let myself relax. You know, for a while, when Laura and I were in New York, I thought I might have actually started to feel okay. Then Laura got the call to come back to Beacon Hills and it was like the fire happened all over again. And then when everything happened with Peter and then the Kanima, it was like I just couldn't get a break. I stopped sleeping for a while, and then I started to lose my appetite, it just got to be so much so fast that I didn't know which way was up. But then Jackson got better, Peter left Lydia alone, and I thought maybe it would be okay, maybe things would be fine now, but then the Alpha pack left that note on my door and I was so close to just losing it..." He had started to get worked up, and Stiles sat quietly while Derek calmed himself down before starting again. "But today, I think I needed today. You're not as bad as you are when you don't want to be, so...thank you."

Stiles wasn't sure but he thinks Derek just complimented him. "Well, you're welcome. And Derek, I know things get hard pretty quickly, but look at us, look at your pack, at your friends, you're not alone Derek. There are people who are always going to be here for you, who, on some level, care about you even though you rarely let them in. You don't have to keep shutting yourself up, Derek. As long as you have your walls up there are going to be people there to knock them down and knock some sense into you. We care, Derek, and it's time you let us care for you." Stiles shifted in his seat when Derek turned to look at him and he saw a tear fall silently to the table. "I know you think that this whole thing was done to piss you off, but really I...we just wanted to show that even though you're a grumpy werewolf, you're still our grumpy werewolf."

Just then Peter lit some of the rockets and they shot up into the air lighting up the night sky; Allison and Scott sat on a table looking up at all the different colors, while Jackson and Lydia kissed each other in the purple, pink, and green glow of the lights. Boyd sat watching them from the ground with his arms splayed behind him while Isaac tried quietly to stick a piece of grass in his ear. Erica laid on the ground with a smile stretching from ear to ear, and Peter lit more fireworks while holding a bottle of tequila in his hand.

"Happy birthday, Derek." Stiles looked away from the fireworks to smile at Derek who still lay on the table, his blazer opened, his pink shirt smudged with ashes, dirt on the knees of his pants from playing Twister and mud on his now ruined Italian loafers.

"Yeah, it has been." Derek smiled at Stiles and handed him the sparkler so that he could rest his head on his hands and finally let himself relax.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this sitting in my files for so long it's almost embarrassing. It was an attempt at sentimental fluff but maybe it came off earnest, I don't know. I just wanted Derek to have a birthday party and I wanted Stiles to throw it.
> 
> Also, I know next to nothing about fireworks so thanks for bearing with me.


End file.
